One Swell Foop

Why not right here in DC?

Taking to heart the wisdom i've collected in my book Wisdom for the Soul: Five Millennium of Prescriptions for Spiritual Healing, start where you are with what you have. Ok, i'm here and what do i have? The will, the vision and some skills. I've discovered there are already some in the DC area who are interested in the idea of an intentional community, in permaculture, in finding solutions to cope with peak oil and other crises that increasingly beset us. It will be only a matter of time before we'll get to critical mass and something will happen.

The main aims of the community i envision:
Creation - To imagine, design and construct a permacultural center within the District
Organization - To model alternative governance structure, relationships and behavior
Energy - To revert to primary energy sources, becoming free of petroleum-based energy
Food - To eat low on the food chain, producing organic fruits and vegetables to meet community needs with surplus to trade

If nothing else, DC has more than enough lawyers, planners and grant writers to get a non-profit up and going in short order. The necessary architects, designers, engineers, farmers, artisans and community members will emerge and become part of the project as it grows. Financing and support will come from governmental, philanthropic and volunteer sources.

First, we'll have to identify and select sites from properties that are ruinate, abandoned or otherwise up for grabs. These would be acquired through usufruct, lease, grant, land trust, whatever form or combination the legal and regulatory heads come up with. A single large or complex of buildings with surrounding land space would be needed for the main campus or hub of the community. Here would be located fields, administration offices, residences, shared facilities, food processing, storage and retail. Buildings would be retrofitted to be solar passive, toilets would be composting and water would be recycled. Automobiles would be restricted to the periphery and transport within the community would be solar-, human- and animal-powered.

No animals would be slaughtered but honored as working members of the community contributing their companionship, energy, waste and by-products in exchange for protection, propagation and food. Animals could be rented out to fulfill tasks for others: rent a pair of goats instead of a power mower from Home Depot; they fertilize organically as they go. This could be basis for a community-run business, or private enterprise of a community member. In addition to food production and processing, including apiculture, viticulture and mycoculture, other income-generating activities would entail salvaging and recycling of goods and materials, environmental education, training and consultancy. Professionals, practitioners and artists could pursue their own businesses or operate under the community banner. The production of fresh fruits and vegetables would be the mainstay of the community, supplying nearby restaurants, food stores and retailing to consumers.

Some things that recommend this approach:
Intentional communities and eco-villages have tended to locate themselves in previously undeveloped or under-developed areas, increasing carbon footprint and cutting themselves off from existing communities. What they do is important and necessary but done in splendid isolation. The majority of the world's population live in urban areas which contain underutilized resources and degraded spaces. Our approach could be considered the green alternative to gentrification which tends to displace existing residents. We would encourage and assist homeowners in upgrading and retrofitting their homes to be greener. The elderly would be supported to age-in-place by health and social workers delivering services in their homes, working out of decentralized facilities based in the community. Disaffected youth and the jobless would be trained in green-collar work and support services, the demand for which will increase and not likely outsourced.

The coincidence of global warming, peak oil, food shortages, environmental and social degradation demands drastic measures carried out with urgency and pointed efficiency. An intentional community whose members self-select will commit to a common vision and work with a sense of purpose and dedication to achieving it. We can learn much from Transition towns but much will be exploratory, ad hoc and experimental in creating an urban model that other cities can follow. For this reason, research, documentation, analysis, publication and dissemination are critical aspects of the project.

Washington DC is the capital of the world's single greatest power, the virtual capital of the world, despite declining influence. A solution worked out within it will have tremendous impact on the world-at-large, promoting the adoption of best practices in the shortest possible time. Our project should hold great appeal and potential for Mayor Fenty in his attempts to green the city.

New jobs will be created as there will be a demand for old skills such as sheep-shearing, spinning, dyeing and weaving, bee-keeping, brewing and bottling, canning and food preservation, animal husbandry and veterinary, wheeled vehicle construction and maintenance, building construction, restoration and maintenance, landscaping and plant propagation, etc. New skills required will be retrofitting existing structures, green roofing, water conservation, treatment and recycling, solid waste cycling, materials testing and analysis, micro-climate modification, manpower- and horsepower-based logistics, etc.

Warming to peak oil and rising food costs

Many experts have figured that supplies of readily accessible oil will soon no longer be available. The cost of gasolene continues to rise without any relief in sight. There is a scramble to substitute bio-fuels, mostly ethanol derived from corn, which has diverted production away from food for human and animal consumption, thus driving up the price of grains. Along with global warming and its ensuing environmental effects, a crisis the magnitude of which the world has not known is imminent. Sure there have been natural disasters, drought, famine and the Black Death, but those have been localized. The inter-relatedness and pervasiveness of the current challenges have never before been encountered. All of modern life and technology is based on petroleum-derived energy. No one, from Dakar to Durham, will be untouched.

Slowly an environmental concern is beginning to seep into the awareness of the average consumer and we have seen responses ranging from driving less, switching to compact fluorescent bulbs, demanding more green products, etc. The range of organic stuff available from mainstream outlets such as Walmart, Costco, Safeway and Giant has grown exponentially in the past few years. These are all steps in the right direction but represent what many critics have dubbed the greenwashing of commerce. The current and growing situation, whether tagged recession, market adjustment, global crisis or temporary hiccups, demands more immediate and drastic coordinated response than these tinkerings can provide.

One approach that suggests itself to my mind is permaculture, which i was pleasantly surprised to discover is being implemented on community-wide scales in Cuba and some British, Irish, Australian and US towns. These are being referred to as Transition Towns and a book about this movement will be released in the US in September.

The thinking behind permaculture is basically using what resources are at hand to design systems that are sustainable and site-appropriate, taking into consideration geography, climate, natural history and culture. Growing bananas in the most certifiably organic and sustainable way, then shipping them to a consumer 2000 miles away would not be permacultural. Growing bananas and other crops that would feed the local population and their immediate neighbors would.

This is not to promote a return to primitivism and pre-industrial subsistence, but would entail the application of leading edge green technology to tap into non-petroleum energy sources and feed populations sustainably. It will require a degree of voluntary simplicity on the part of residents of the developed world but this is the paradigmatic shift that is required if the future of humans is to be assured. It's not the earth that needs saving, it'll take care of itself; it's our own skins. Keep in mind that the vast majority of the world's peoples already live in involuntary simplicity, so the elite would only be reducing their exploitation of finite resources, their carbon footprint and toxic waste.

My garden at Mango Walk, Trelawny, Jamaica, circa 2000, after about 6 months work. Much of the yard is concrete as cement was mixed on the ground during construction; a patch of bare concrete can be seen in the mid-distance. Raised beds were built on top of this hard surface using newspaper and compost. Paths were determined by natural traffic flow and surfaced in left-over tile chips. Foreground left, rockery with bird bath made from top of oil drum, clothes lines and compost heap at right.

The first of the tomatoes from my garden, the sweetest i've ever tasted. The seedlings were left back from the previous tenant. I never had to buy tomatoes for the rest of the time i was there.